Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Retirement Visas here in Thailand, and we are talking about it in the context of setting up a game plan to retire. So if you are still in your home country or wherever you are, and you're not in Thailand, up until call it a month and a half ago, you would see especially on forums and things, guys just telling other guys like, "hey, just get on a plane, come here. You'll be able to convert and get a Visa once you are here." Long story short, maybe in certain circumstances again depending on the specific facts of the given case that may be possible, but as just general information or general advice, that probably is not the best idea right now. 

I have discussed in other videos, there have been changes to banking policy here in Thailand; it's having an impact on the ability to deal with visas, to deal with visa extensions. Also look, there has been just a general tightening of Immigration protocols, and we are also currently going through something of a shake up politically where we don't quite know yet what the makeup of the Cabinet is going to look like or the putative Cabinet, and we don't quite know what the look of immigration and the philosophy of immigration is going to be like moving forward. But what we do know is at least for the moment, getting into Retirement Visa status here in the Kingdom is not just some walk in the park; it's not the easiest thing in the world. Again, depending on your circumstances, you may be able to do it. But different people are going to have different sets of circumstances, and I think it is very prudent right now, if you are looking at retiring in Thailand, it is a good idea to contact a legal professional before coming. Ascertain what your options are. 

That's the other thing. There are new Visa categories, there are different types of visas. As I discussed at the beginning, the Destination Thailand Visa in my opinion looked a lot better than it ultimately was. We are talking to a lot of people right now that are having problems with Banking and actually living here on it, because they can't do certain things because it is really not exactly fit to purpose. That being said, at the same time there are other types of visas like the LTR which may be very useful. Again there are other options like the Elite Visa, but for standard retirees for the most part - again different cases, different fact patterns - are going to dictate different analysis, but for the most part, the Standard Retirement Visa especially for retirees is going to be optimal. Meanwhile, the other thing to keep in mind with all of this stuff is, you are still going to have to deal with banking even if you get your Retirement Visa from abroad and we are seeing issues with banking at the moment here in Thailand in terms of they are implementing all these sort of Draconian if you will scrutiny policies associated with new bank accounts because they are afraid of scammers and all this stuff, which I think it is all totalitarianism and ridiculous as I have discussed in many other videos. That said, we still have to deal with it. 

So the point of this video as the title suggests is look, if you are looking to come here and retire and you haven't left your home country yet, I think it would be prudent to contact a legal professional first, ascertain your options before making any plans, because you may regret getting over here based on the assumption that you can do XYZ and it turns out perhaps you can't.